A Turian's Love
by xxMrThorne729xx
Summary: Mass Effect told through the eyes of Garrus Vakarian. As Garrus struggles with the Reaper threat, he also struggles with his growing infatuation with one Commander Ruby Shepard.
1. Chapter 1

Garrus Vakarian walked into the Citadel Security Services and sat at his desk. The turian had just come from Executor Pallin's office with his report on suspended Officer Thomas Harkin. His report recommended that the suspension become permanent. Harkin had accumulated many complaints in his short tenure with C-Sec. Reports of drinking on duty, accepting bribes, roughing up suspects, abuse of power, racism, and being an all around ass. Not humanity's best representative.

Harkin was the first human to be accepted into C-Sec. He was pushed through fast and was not vetted very well. After these complaints came across his desk, Garrus looked into his service records with the Alliance Navy. Surprise, surprise, the same type of complaints there.

Garrus was thinking how the Alliance screwed up tapping this guy for C-Sec when his terminal pinged. A C-Sec wide alert came across the screen.

"SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik Killed in Failed Mission on Human Colony Eden Prime."

Titans of Palaven! No! Garrus stared at the screen in disbelief. He and Nihlus had grown up together in the same colony on their homeworld of Palaven. Nihlus had been a bit of a rebel and got into trouble a lot. Garrus, on a mission to change the world, befriended Nihlus and they had been inseparable throughout their military training. Both he and Nihlus wanted to become SPECTREs, but Garrus's father blocked his candidacy. He supported Nihlus's bid and was thrilled when his friend was granted SPECTRE status.

It was then that Nihlus met Saren Arterius. Saren mentored Nihlus in the ways of the SPECTREs. Garrus hated him from the start. Saren was cold and ruthless. He was condescending to Garrus and treated him like a pathetic lapdog when he was around. Saren's influence drove a wedge between Garrus and Nihlus. Garrus went into C-Sec, using his tech skills and natural curiosity to become one of the best investigators in the force. He and Nihlus kept in touch but were not as close as they once were.

Garrus read through the news piece and was shocked to hear that the Geth were on Eden Prime. The Geth hadn't been seen in over 200 years, ever since they drove the Quarians off Rannoch. A human Alliance commander Ruby Shepard was on the same mission. She was reported as saying that Nihlus was murdered by a rogue SPECTRE, not killed by enemy fire from the Geth. Another shock was that this rogue SPECTRE was Saren Arterius.

"What the hell were you doing there, Arterius?" Garrus wondered out loud.

"That's what you are going to find out, Vakarian." boomed Executor Pallin. "We need to know if these allegations are true. Find out everything you can about the connection between Kryik and Arterius. And find everything on this Commander Shepard. Her background, family, service records, ex-lovers, everything. Figure out if she's some nut job or just your typical hot headed flesh-bag."

"Sir, why are we concentrating on Shepard?" Garrus asked. "Why not go where the evidence leads us?"

"Vakarian, do what you're told. Investigate this the way C-Sec dictates. No going off the reservation on this one, Garrus. I mean it." Pallin shouted as he stomped back to his office.

Garrus nervously clicked his mandibles and rubbed his crest horns. "Why did I even get out of bed this morning?"

"Dammit! Access Denied? Again?"

Garrus had spent hours looking at Saren's service records and ran into more red tape than the Volus financial district. Time was running out. The Alliance ambassador's meeting with the Citadel Council was in three hours.

Shepard's military records were pretty cut and dry. Military "brat" as the humans say, lived from ship to ship, outpost to outpost following her parents through their military career. Enlisted as soon as she was able, stellar record, received many commendations. A war hero, almost single-handedly fought off an entire army of Batarian slavers on Elysium. Now serving as the XO on the Alliance vessel SSV Normandy. No sign of grand standing or the usual backstabbing for power you would find in a "hot headed flesh-bag" as Pallin would put it.

Now her personal records were a different story. Not much there. Besides her upbringing, her personal life was minimal. Reportedly she did not socialize with her shipmates very often at all. The times that she did, the story was that she cannot dance. Weird thing to be known for, but there it was. One hot and heavy love affair with a serviceman named Vega, that ended years ago. And a brother, Jeff Moreau, who also happened to be the pilot of the Normandy. Other than those tidbits, again nothing to suggest that she would be lying about Saren.

Garrus knew why Pallin wanted him to look so heavily into Shepard. He didn't trust humans. Ever since the First Contact War, there was a lot of mistrust between humans and turians. What he didn't understand was why Pallin wanted him to completely dismiss Saren's possible involvement. Despite what he said, Garrus did "go off the reservation" and started looking for anything that would suggest Saren working with the Geth. But every time he came close to maybe finding something, he was blocked from the information. It was as if someone didn't want Garrus to get any information, which he suspected was the case.

After beating the hell out of his screen for the hundredth time, Garrus looked at the time. "SHIT!" The meeting was scheduled to start in thirty minutes. He would barely have enough time to get to the Tower and present his findings to the Executor. He wished he had more time to expand his investigation into Saren. Maybe he could convince Pallin to...hell, it wasn't going to work. But he had to try.

Garrus ran out of the lift as soon as the doors opened and almost knocked Pallin down.

"Vakarian! What the hell?"

"Sorry sir, I thought I would have been late for the hearing."

"Almost, but what did you find on Shepard?"

"Um, nothing, sir. Shepard's clean. Saren, however..."

"Nothing? You found nothing? I told you to dig into everything."

"I did sir, there's nothing in her records that seemed suspicious. Saren on the other hand, his records are sealed and I can't get access to them."

Pallin scoffed, "Of course you can't. He's a SPECTRE."

"Saren's hiding something. Give me more time. Stall them."

"Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over, Garrus." Grabbing his report and walking away, Pallin dismissively waved Garrus off.

"Damn him, that stubborn son of a..." Garrus thought as he turned and saw her.

He was momentarily struck by her presence, then regained his composure.

"Commander Shepard, Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

"Sounds like you really want to bring him down."

"I don't trust him. Something about him rubs me the wrong way. But he's a SPECTRE, everything he touches is classified. I can't find any hard evidence."

"I think the Council is ready for us, Commander." The soldier standing behind Shepard said. This must be Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, according to the reports of the Eden Prime incident.

"Good Luck, Shepard. Maybe they'll listen to you." Garrus said as the three humans walked away.

Garrus watched as Shepard walked away. He had watched the vids and seen the pictures, but seeing her in person was different. There was an aura about her. A larger than life quality to her. Her entire being screamed warrior. He had never really been attracted to humans, but this one was... Hell, he didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the red hair. Maybe it was the way the armor hugged her curves. Or maybe it was the scar above her eye and the way it cut into that thin line of hair there.

"Pull yourself together, Vakarian." Garrus admonished himself. He couldn't be thinking about this. Not when the Galaxy was on the verge of war, again. The Geth returning was a major concern. Especially if Saren had turned rogue and was working with them. Besides he was horrible with women. He hadn't had a relationship since Nyreen left him to go to Omega.

Garrus turned and watched Shepard ascend the stairs to meet with the Council. He shook his head and muttered to himself.

"Dammit. What's wrong with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

Garrus stood at the back of the room watching the proceedings. As was expected, the Council wasn't really taking the accusations seriously. The Council did have the reputation of diminishing the problems of the humans. Claiming it was their own fault for establishing colonies in the Traverse, so close to the Terminus Systems. Not only that, their best best agent was being accused of treason. The Council relied heavily on the SPECTREs. Probably too much thought Garrus. And they especially relied on Saren. Also watching the proceedings via hologram was Saren himself.

"That bastard. He killed Nihlus, I know it." He thought. Garrus looked up at the visage of the man with hatred and disgust. Not only did he murder his friend but he was a traitor to the Council, but to the Turians as well. He was contemplating the many ways he wanted to torture and kill Saren, when Saren left.

"What? He just left? In the middle of a hearing?" Garrus whispered. He focused then on Shepard and noticed just how how much she was holding in. Her fists clenched, nostrils flaring. She looked like she was about to explode. It was not hard to see why.

The hearing was not going well. The Council was dismissive. Saren leaving, insulting and humiliating the humans. Ambassador Udina spouting his usual "Humanity First" bullshit.

"I've got to find something to help her. There must be something I'm missing." he thought. "The Shadow Broker!" Garrus exclaimed a little too loud. People standing around him looked up and stared.

The Volus financial adviser, Barla Von? No, Garrus couldn't afford his type of information. Fist, the owner of Chora's Den? No, rumors were that a Krogan bounty hunter was after him and Garrus didn't want to get in that beast's way. Dr. Michel, yes! Chloe had a clinic in the Wards and overheard lots of information that she normally wouldn't. Garrus turned to get on the lift and just missed the fist flying towards his face.

"You bird-faced son of a bitch! You got me fucking fired." The stench of alcohol on Harkin's breath told Garrus how he was able to easily side step the punch and push him away.

"You got yourself fired, Tom."

"Fuck you, Vakarian. I'll get you for this I swear." Harkin slurred.

"Go home Harkin. Go home, sober up and take a shower. You stink and you're making me sick."

Garrus walked away, while Harkin was still throwing threats and insults at his back. He entered the lift and made his way to Dr. Michel's clinic. He thoughts turned to Shepard. There was no denying that she was gorgeous. Everybody could see it. She walked into the room and everybody stopped to look at her. To look at her flaming red hair, her eyes that glowed blue like eezo. Her ample womanly curves were entrancing. But he never understood why the humans made their armor to form around the female's breasts. It just seemed uncomfortable and actually could be pretty painful in a firefight. But it wasn't just her looks. Her being, her aura was powerful. She walked into the room, any room and owned it completely. He just had to get closer to her. He didn't know how, but he would figure something out.

He approached the door to the clinic and stopped. He heard voices inside, loud angry voices. He entered his override code into the panel for the door and it opened silently. Several of Fist's thugs were there threatening Dr. Michel. Garrus crouched down and pulled his sidearm. He crawled to the counter, unseen, waiting for an opportunity to take the thugs down. Then the door opened and there she was.

Fist's men saw her and panicked. There it was, his shot. Garrus stood up, whipped around the corner and fired. The man who held Chloe fell, dead before he hit the ground. All hell broke loose after that. Chloe dove behind a crate. Garrus ducked behind cover and continued to fire at the remaining men. Shepard let loose with biotic charge that blasted into the men and tore them apart. It was over in less than a minute.

"Wow, she's a biotic. That wasn't in her profile. And she's powerful, not the most powerful I've seen, but pretty damned close." Garrus starred at her in awe.

"Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"What were you thinking? You could've hit the hostage!"

"There wasn't time to think. I just reacted. I didn't mean to...Dr. Michel, are you alright?" Garrus guiltily asked.

"No, I'm okay. Thanks to you, all of you."

He looked on as Shepard questioned Dr. Michel. Chloe spoke of a quarian patient who wanted to see the Shadow Broker. She said that she sent her to see Fist, who she thought was an agent for the him. But Chloe didn't know that Fist had betrayed the Shadow Broker was working for Saren now. Shepard started to leave to go after Fist.

"Shepard, wait. This is your show, but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you."

"You're a turian. Why do you want to bring him down."

"I couldn't find the proof I needed for my investigation. But I knew what was really going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council and a disgrace to my people.

"Welcome aboard Garrus."

"You know we aren't the only ones going after Fist. A krogan bounty hunter named Wrex was hired to take him out. I'd rather have him with us than us getting in his way. We'll find him at the C-Sec offices."

"Lead the way."

They made their way to C-Sec in silence. Garrus felt like he was going through puberty again. He was awkward and nervous. The object of his infatuation was five feet from him and he couldn't think of a thing to say. They finally reached C-Sec and Garrus was relieved. Now Shepard could deal with Wrex and get to what Garrus did best. Interrogate and shoot criminals. Wrex and Shepard talked for a bit and finally Wrex agreed to join us.

"Thank you, Gods." he thought. Wrex agreeing to join would make this a hell of a lot easier. They made their their way to Chora's Den and was ambushed by at least a dozen of Fist's men. Having both Shepard and Wrex's biotic powers made the battle easier than it should have been. They cut through Fist's forces with ease and made it to Fist's office. Being the coward that Garrus knew him to be, Fist surrendered quickly.

Fist gave up the information they were after. He had sent the quarian into a trap and was surely going to be killed if they didn't find her, fast. They were just about to leave when Wrex pulled his shotgun and murdered Fist.

"Dammit Wrex, what the hell are you dong?" Shepard growled.

"I got paid to do a job. Don't like leaving it half done."

"I don't work like that. You want to ride with me, you better get that straight."

"Sure thing, Commander." Wrex said sarcastically.

Inwardly, Garrus smiled. He liked this krogan. Plus he was glad that someone took the heat of his mistake in the clinic off of him. But there wasn't time to gloat, they had to find the quarian.

"Come on, Shepard, we need to go."

They headed out of Fist's office and again ran into more of Fist's men.

"Dammit, where do they all come from? Do guys like Fist have a hotline? Dial-a-scumbag?" Garrus quipped.

Shepard laughed as she took out three guys with one biotic charge. Once again the thugs went down easily and they quickly ran to the alleyway that Fist sent the quarian to.

They found her just in time as the assassins had her cornered. The fight was a little tougher as these were highly trained assassins and not rental thugs. When the last attacker fell, Shepard made her way to the quarian. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was an energetic little thing, good in a fight and scared out of her mind but eager to help Shepard, as everybody was when they met her. She said she had audio logs from a destroyed Geth that proved Saren was behind the attack on Eden Prime.

"Yes, finally. I can take that son of a bitch down." Garrus thought. He had waited a long time for this moment. They were in the Human Ambassador's office when Tali played the logs.

"Eden Prime was a major victory." Saren's voice echoed out of Tali's omni-tool. Garrus cringed when he heard it. "The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

The Conduit? Garrus had never heard of it, but if Saren wanted it, it had to be bad. He would pay for betraying the Council and the turians. But there was more, Tali played the rest of the log.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." This voice was unknown.

Reapers? The old legend? Gods, this was not good at all. Reapers were supposedly the beings that destroyed the Protheans 50,000 years ago. And Saren wanted to bring them back? They needed to take this to the Council and get started on bringing Saren down.


	3. Chapter 3

They were back in Citadel Tower presenting the voice logs to the Council. This hearing was going a little bit better than the last. The Council had finally taken their heads out of their asses and was taking it seriously. They had disavowed Saren and terminated his SPECTRE status. They even revealed the other voice on the log. Matriarch Benezia, a leader among the Asari. Another traitor to the Council.

Garrus watched on as the Council officially named Shepard a SPECTRE. The first human SPECTRE, and she wanted him on her team.

Both Garrus and Shepard had unfinished business on the Citadel and agreed to meet at her ship, the Normandy by the end of the day. He headed to his office to turn in his transfer request to Executor Pallin. It was only a formality, as SPECTREs had priority and Pallin couldn't refuse it. But he was not happy.

"You're the best investigator we got, Vakarian. I don't want to lose you."

"Well sir, you should have thought of that when you tried to steamroll my investigation. I told you I had a feeling about Saren, but you ignored it. No, you did worse than that, you actively sabotaged my investigation. Now you look the fool."

"How dare you talk to a superior that way."

"All due respect, SIR, you're not my superior anymore." Garrus left the office with Pallin sputtering behind him.

Back at his apartment, he packed his belongings and old case files that he wasn't able to solve. He kept them around so he could periodically look over for things he might have missed. The case that bothered him the most was Dr. Saleon. This twisted, demented salarian almost ruined his career. The geneticist was the center of a investigation into black market organ trading. He was using his employees as test tubes. Cloning their organs, letting them grow and develop inside their bodies, then removing and selling them. If the organs failed, he would leave them inside their bodies, which would kill the people he used.

When C-Sec went to arrest him, Saleon had destroyed his lab, abducted his employees and fled the Citadel. Garrus insisted that the ship be shot down, knowing that Saleon would only use the hostages as test subjects, so they were as good as dead anyway. The Citadel defence forces refused to fire on the ship, citing that it was too close the station. Saleon got away and Garrus got reprimanded for it. It was then that he started to lose faith in C-Sec policy.

He had finished packing and headed to the docks when he saw the Normandy for the first time in person. Like Shepard herself, he had seen images and vids of the experimental ship, but they were nothing compared to seeing the real thing. She was a thing of beauty. A mixture of human and turian technology and design. Sleek and rugged, she was magnificent.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." he muttered to himself as he entered the airlock and stepped inside. As he walked the corridor to his quarters, he noticed the stares. He was an oddity, he knew. The last turian to walk these halls was gunned down by the biggest terrorist the galaxy has ever known. Plus, it was a primarily all human crew and there was still resentment towards his people. He especially noticed glares coming from the older male standing in the navigator position. He did not envy the treatment that Tali was bound to receive. Quarians had the reputation of being scavengers and dirty. The envirosuits that they wore gave the impression of disease. Then there was the fact that they were the ones who introduced the Geth to the galaxy.

He took in the design of the interior of the ship. The command center was of turian design. The raised platform where the commander would stand was designed so he could watch all of his subordinates at the same time. Also to remind the crew who was in command. He made his way to his quarters and unpacked his belongings. It really was a fantastic ship.

As he sat on his bunk, Garrus thought of the situation was found himself. It was his dream assignment. Working with a SPECTRE, hunting down the bastard that murdered his best friend. And the SPECTRE he was working with was the most beautiful human he had ever seen and the most badass soldier he had ever seen in action. And the team she had gathered so far was interesting. A krogan bounty hunter, a quarian pilgrim, a semi-racist human soldier and biotic human soldier.

Garrus wanted to talk to Shepard some more and made his way to the CIC. When he arrived, he saw Chief Williams and Lieutenant Alenko talking with the man who glaring at him as he boarded. He was worried that this was going to a problem, so he wanted to try and alleviate it as soon as possible.

"Chief, Lieutenant, how long have you known Shepard?"

"That's Commander Shepard to you." snarled Williams. "You better watch yourself, Garrus. I don't like the idea of a turian on this ship."

"Stand Down, Chief. He's here to help us. Sorry Garrus. Call me Kaiden, please. Well, the commander and I have been on a couple of assignments together before this. And we trained together as biotics. Although she doesn't have a damned L2 implant like I do. She's good, real good. Much better than me."

"I've seen how good she is, Kaiden. She's very respected among your Navy, I gather."

"She's a goddamn hero, Garrus. Saved my ass on Eden Prime, no thanks to your friend, Saren. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if the turian government was behind this. If I find out you're behind this, I'll..."

"Stop right there, Chief! Saren is not my friend. You know who was? Nihlus was my friend. We grew up together. Saren murdered my best friend and I'm going to kill the bastard when I get the chance. He's a traitor to the Council and to the turians. So stow your crap."

"I..I wasn't aware of that. I apologize. But I still don't trust you. You turians always shoot first and then shoot again, then ask questions."

"First Contact War?"

"That's none of your damned business."

"Ah, well I understand the resentment between our people. Let's make a deal with each other, ok? Let the past of our fathers', be our fathers'."

"Whatever, just stay the hell away from me, got it?"

Garrus sighed. Well this was going to be more difficult than he thought. He turned to the other gentleman who had been witnessing this exchange.

"Garrus Vakarian, pleased to meet you..."

"Charles Pressly, navigation officer. Welcome aboard, Vakarian. Go easy on the girl, she's been through a lot."

"What can I do? I think I understand why she hates me, but I wasn't even a part of the war. I guess I'll just steer clear of her while on this mission."

"Gotta be honest, Garrus. I don't trust turians either, all non-humans really. But if the Commander says you're good people. Then that's good enough for me."

"I appreciate that, Pressly. I'll try not to let you down. So how long have you known the Commander?"

"Well I was serving on the Agincourt when Skyllian Blitz happened. We were the first to arrive and witnessed first hand how Shepard handled those batarian bastards. She's tough, tougher than most. Then Captain Anderson chose me personally to be the navigation officer. Been serving along side her ever since."

"Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Pressly. I better get going."

Garrus wanted to meet Shepard's brother and started to make his way to the cockpit when the PA system activated. It was Shepard.

"This is Commander Shepard. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of. Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all...we will stop him!"

He had stopped like everybody else to listen to Shepard's speech. It got his blood pumping, eager to catch Saren and eager to help her achieve her goal. He imagined it was the same for everybody else on board.

He hoped he would not let Ruby Shepard down.


	4. Chapter 4

Garrus made his way to the cockpit and saw a small fragile looking man in the pilot's seat. Surely this isn't Jeff Moreau, Shepard's brother. This human was at least one third the size of Shepard. His intel must've been wrong.

"So are you gonna stare the whole way to Therum, or are you gonna actually talk?"

"Um, I'm sorry what?

"You've been standing there for five minutes asking yourself the same question everybody asks."

"What question is that?"

"How can you be Shepard's brother? You look nothing like her." he said in a mocking tone. "How are you able to pilot this ship, with your condition."

"Ah, I'm sorry Mr. Moreau, I just..."

"Joker. They call me Joker."

"Joker? How'd you get a name like that?"

"Isn't it obvious? Because I'm just huge ball of sunshine, aren't I? Idiot. It's ironic, like calling a big fat guy Tiny."

"Okay, I get that. So what condition are you talking about?"

"You haven't heard? Seems all anybody can talk about. I have Vrolik syndrome. You know, brittle bone disease. My bones didn't develop all the way and the slightest pressure can shatter them to pieces. Caused a lot of trouble with my joining the Navy, but I made it. Not only am I a great pilot, but I'm the best damned pilot in the whole galaxy."

"Well, not a lack of confidence I see. You'd make a good turian, Joker. So, you are Shepard's brother, right? Why then..."

"Why are we so different? Well we have the same mother, but different fathers. Ruby is the one who encouraged me to go to flight school. I owe her a lot so when I was asked to fly her ship, I of course said yes."

Garrus looked at this man and found that he admired him greatly. A horrible handicap was given to him and he overcame it. A little gruff, but he was used to that being a turian. He was sure he could be friends with Joker.

"So, Shepard? What's she like when she's not kicking ass?"

"Trade secrets, pal. You wanna find out, ask her yourself. I'm not making that mistake again. I was in a body cast for a year, the last time I went telling tales."

"A body cast?"

"Yeah, her meathead of a boyfriend asked me about her and I made the mistake of telling a childhood story. Ruby found out and got so pissed she threw me across the room. She didn't do it on purpose, she just lost control for a second. If it had been anybody else, it would have been a massive bruise and a killer headache. But with my thing here, I was broken fifteen ways to Sunday. Ruby's been trying to make it up to me ever since. What she doesn't know is that I forgave her the day it happened. But it's fun to hold it over her head. Especially when she outranks me."

"You do realize that you just told me a secret of hers, don't you?"

"Aw crap. You won't tell her, will you?"

"He doesn't have to, J. You told her, yourself."

Garrus and Joker both spun around and found Shepard behind them leaning against the bulkhead with a bemused smile on her face. Garrus was again struck by her beauty, even when she was looking murderous.

"Shit, sis. Don't do that. You know I could break my neck if I turn too fast. So, how much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you've been holding that accident over my head for ten years. Ten years? You know I hated myself for that. How could you? And James was not a meathead."

"Are you serious? He was the size of a Buick! He had no neck, for Christ's sake."

"J! I'm not in the mood right now. New law, J, new law."

"Oh no, not Ruby's Laws?"

"Yes, Ruby's Law 150: On the ship, Ruby shall be called Commander, not sis. Not Rube, not Ruby, Commander. Got that, Flight Lieutenant."

"Aye, Commander."

"Good. And Garrus?"

He snapped his head to Shepard's attention. "Yes?"

"You wanna know about me, you ask me. Not my crew." Shepard turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Dammit, well at least I'm still in one piece." Joker muttered.

Garrus stood there, stunned. He had seen turian generals that weren't that strict with their pilots, much less their family. He looked at Joker and he was slumped down in the chair, looking dejected. He felt sorry for Joker, then realized something. Shepard was pissed at him.

"Shit."

He ran down the corridor to catch Shepard to apologize. She had reached the lift and the doors were closing when he slipped through and joined her. Her back was facing him and her shoulders were shaking. He wanted to comfort her, pull her to him and hug her tightly. Whoa, were did that come from? He only just met her. But it felt right, he thought.

"Shepard, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I mean, I didn't..."

Shepard turned around and she wasn't crying, she was laughing. Laughing uncontrollably. Doubled over in gut wrenching laughter.

"Oh my God, that was hilarious. Did you see his face? Ya, I know. It was a little mean, but the little fucker had it coming. Ten years? That jerkwad had me treating him like he walked on air for ten years. I mean, who does that?"

"Commander?"

"Garrus, that brother of mine has been busting my ass over that little indiscretion for ten years. A little payback was in order. I'm sorry you got caught in the middle of that. I swear, I'm a lot more professional than that normally."

"Oh, well from everything I've heard about you, I believe it. And I'm sorry I've been going around all over the ship asking about you. I should have talked to you."

"I would have worried if you didn't ask about me, Garrus. The easiest way to know your new commander is to ask the crew. So don't worry about it. But, anything you want to know from the source?"

"Well, there is something. Ruby's Laws? What's that?"

"Oh that?" Shepard laughed. "That's something I learned during my training. My instructor was a guy named Hackett. He was a hard bastard, but fair. He had this list of rules to live by, called them Steven's Laws. It was good advice. So, when I started my career, I adopted them. I keep adding to them. There were forty of them to start with. From what you saw up there, I'm up to 150 now."

"Wait. You said Hackett? Steven Hackett? Admiral Steven Hackett? The head of the Alliance Navy was your instructor?"

"Yup, that's right. He was more of a father to me than my actual father."

"That's impressive, Shepard. So, what are these laws?"

"Stick around long enough, and you'll find out, Vakarian."

The lift doors opened and Shepard stepped out.

"Well, we have a while before we reach Therum and I have some paperwork to fill out and other things to take care of. Get settled and enjoy the ride. And Garrus? Not a word to Joker, understand?"

"Aye, Commander."

"Oh, one more thing. Chief Williams. Watch yourself with that one. She really doesn't like you. Just give her time. She'll come around, or I'll kick her ass myself."

Garrus stood there as the lift doors closed. The more he knew about Shepard, the more he admired her. Trained by the famed Admiral Hackett, saved Elysium from batarian slavers, one of the most powerful biotics he's ever seen, and the first human SPECTRE. She was a spectacular woman. He hasn't known a more impressive woman, human or otherwise. It was going to be an adventure getting to know her.

He was so lost in his thoughts about Shepard that he didn't notice the lift had opened and that Wrex was staring at him.

"Hello, C-Sec. You taking a ride on the lift? Having fun?"

"Wrex. Need the lift? Got a contract you need to kill?"

"Watch youself, C-Sec. I'm not one to screw with." Wrex flexed his arms and lowered his head, showing his crown.

"Neither am I, Krogan. So keep your tail straight, got me?"

"Heh, you got a quad, C-Sec. I might just like you." Wrex walked onto the lift and Garrus stepped off.

"Wrex."

"C-Sec." The doors closed and Garrus was alone in the cargo bay. Or so he thought.

Garrus looked down underneath the Mako and saw two feet sticking out. He heard tinkering and thought he heard them say "Bosh t'et"

"Tali? Is that you?"

He heard a bump and Tali curse. She came crawling out from underneath the Mako, rubbing her head.

"Garrus? What are you doing here?" Tali looked around nervously, trying to see if anybody else was around.

"I was going to ask you the same question? What were you doing under there?"

"Oh, I was just trying to figure out how it worked. It's a quarian thing."

"Okay, but why are you so nervous?"

"Well, people don't trust quarians with tech. You know the reputation of us being scavengers and thieves." Tali looked like she was about to cry.

"Tali, please. It's okay. I won't tell anybody, if you don't want me to. But you might want to talk to Commander Shepard, to inform her of your intentions. In case she catches you like I did. Trust me, she'll understand. And might even give you her permission to look at any tech on the ship. Just don't start building Geth and you'll be alright" He said with a smile, assuring her that he was teasing.

Tali was about to say something when the lift doors opened. Shepard walked into the cargo bay, fully geared up.

"Garrus, Tali, gear up and mount up. You're with me. We've arrived at Therum. Let's go find a doctor."


	5. Chapter 5

They finally reached the ruins. Garrus swiped sweat from his forehead, fighting a crapload of Geth took a lot of out of him. Fighting Geth was different from tracking down scumbags on the Citadel. He hadn't worked out this hard since his training on Palaven. Fighting along side Shepard was as exhilarating as it was the first time. But he was impressed with Tali. Her tech skills surpassed his and she was deadly with that shotgun.

"Damn, I thought we were done for when that Colossus showed up." Tali gasped.

"Me too, but when you overloaded it's shields and Shepard threw the grenade to stagger it, it gave me a clear shot to take it down."

"Okay you guys, enough flirting. We're not done yet. We still to find T'soni and get the hell out of here."

"Sorry Shepard."

"Don't be sorry, just start looking."

Garrus and Tali walked off in separate directions. He searched the ruins for any signs for the doctor. He worried with the amount of Geth they had encountered that the Asari was already dead, or worse, she was the one calling the shots. This was Benezia's daughter after all. They still didn't know what her allegiances were. He lifted his rifle and dropped a Geth that popped around the corner. He felt the energy from a biotic charge behind him. He turned and saw Shepard take out a couple more Geth. He saw in the back of the open area they were in, a set of stairs.

"Shepard, Tali, I found something."

They made their way to the stairs and climbed.

"Um, hello? Is anyone there?" A timid voice called out. "Are the Geth gone?"

They turned the corner and Garrus marveled at what they saw. A young Asari hanging in midair, suspended by energy fields emitting from an odd looking machine. She was struggling, trying to free herself.

"Dr. T'soni?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, do you mind getting me down? I've been stuck here awhile. It's getting quite uncomfortable."

"What are you doing here? How did you get up there?"

"Just get me down, please. I'll answer all your questions, just get me out of here first, will you?"

"Okay, sorry. Of course. Spread out, find a way back there."

Garrus looked around, still wondering if this Asari could be trusted. Shepard was taking a big risk helping her before finding out where T'soni stood. He was about to inform Shepard of his thoughts when a loud blast rang in his ears. Shepard had found a laser drill that cut a hole in the earth and made a path to T'soni and to the machine holding her. Shepard's hand hovered over the button to turn the machine off.

"What can you tell us about Matriarch Benezia?"

"Mother? I haven't heard from or talked to Benezia in years. Last I heard she was on Thessia. Why?"

"Don't toy with us, T'soni." Garrus snarled. "We know she's in league with Saren and the Geth. Just tell us what their plans are."

"Geth? You mean the same Geth who are here trying to kill me? And who's Saren? I've never heard of him."

"Convenient that you got 'stuck' in the only place where you'd be safe from them. How do we know that this isn't a trap?"

"Garrus, hold on." Shepard stepped in. "I think she's telling the truth. Look at her. She's completely clueless about her mother. I'm getting her down."

Shepard pressed the button and the energy fields retracted back into the machine and T'soni fell to the ground, knocking the breath out of her.

"Oof. Thank you for freeing me, but you think someone could have caught me?"

Garrus smirked at the doctor's discomfort. He didn't trust her. He was sure she knew what Saren and Benezia were up to. It was just too much of a coincidence that she was still alive on a planet crawling with Geth and their outposts. Not only that, but she's supposed to be a galaxy-class archeologist and a Prothean expert and she gets "stuck" in a Prothean device? No, he didn't buy it.

"So what is it that Benezia's supposed to have done?"

"She's working with a turian named Saren. He's a former SPECTRE that aligned with the Geth and he's looking for a Prothean artifact called the Conduit."

"The Conduit? I've never heard of that. Are you sure it's a Prothean artifact?"

"That's what our intelligence leads us to believe. Saren tried to steal a Prothean beacon found on Eden Prime. We got to it and got the information before he was able to get away with it."

"You found another beacon? Where is it? I must study it."

"It was destroyed, unfortunately."

"What? I..."

The ground started shaking and debris was falling around them. Damn, that blast must have destabilized the ruins. They needed to leave, now.

"Shepard! If you want to continue this conversation, I suggest we get back to the Normandy."

"You're right. Joker, lock onto our position and come pick us up. And step on it, J."

"Aye, Commander. On our way."

The group rode the lift to the exit and were ambushed by a group of Geth led by a huge Krogan. Great, thought Garrus. She probably signaled them somehow. Demands and threats were made before the firefight broke out. Garrus was shocked when T'soni fired a biotic charge at the krogan and dropped him hard. Maybe he was wrong? Nah, just throwing them off so she can get close to them. When the last Geth fell is when all hell broke loose. The ruins were falling down on their heads. They ran for the exit and Shepard was just coming out of the tunnel when it collapsed behind her. Dust and rock came shooting out covering them head to foot.

The Normandy came around the surrounding cliffs and hovered above them. Garrus was again impressed with Joker's flying. He really was good. The hatch opened up and they spilled into the cargo bay, coughing and spitting dust that had covered their tongues. He glanced at Tali and knew that she would need to repair her CO2 scrubbers. That much dust would wreck havoc on her envirosuit.

"Tali? You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, Garrus. Gonna need a major bath though."

"Briefing first, then showers all around." Shepard barked. "Dr. T'soni, welcome aboard the Normandy."

"Please, call me Liara."

During the briefing, Shepard explained everything to T'soni. The beacon, Saren, the Geth, and the Conduit. She took it all in, and Garrus saw that she seemed overwhelmed. Then Shepard mentioned the visions and the fact that she couldn't make sense of them. He looked up, he hadn't heard this part. T'soni said she could help, that she would merge their minds. He didn't like that.

"Shepard, I don't think that's a good idea. We still don't know where her true allegiance are. She could be working with them."

"Garrus, if this helps me figure out these damned images, I'd let Saren himself do this. I need these out of my head. Besides, I believe her.

Garrus grunted and knew he couldn't stop her. The asari approached Shepard and grabbed her. Shepard went rigid, like she was having a seizure. Garrus jumped up and started towards them. Wrex stood up and got in front of him.

"Stand down, C-Sec. I've seen this before. You don't want to interrupt, it could do a lot of damage to both of them. Drive the doctor insane, melt Shepard's brain, anything really. So, sit down, shut up and let it ride."

"Dammit Wrex, you trust her?"

"I don't trust anybody, unless I'm getting paid to. But you've got to sit down."

Garrus sat down, seething. Shepard and T'soni gasped and jumped back away from each other. Both looking like they were about to vomit.

"What the hell was that? Shepard breathed.

"I saw it, but you're right. It didn't make much sense."

"Actually, it's a little clearer to me. At first I thought it was a vision of the future with the Geth destroying organic life. Instead, it's the past. Protheans, in fact. They're being wiped out by huge machines. Not the Geth, but something else. The Reapers, maybe? I don't know. It's still very unclear."

T'soni swooned and almost fell. Shepard reached out and caught her.

"You okay, doctor?"

"I need to lie down. This takes a lot of energy to perform. Is there a place I can rest?"

"Yes, there's a room in the med bay. Dr. Chakwas will help you."

"Thank you, Shepard." T'soni walked out of the briefing room.

"Shepard."

"Commander"

Both Garrus and Williams spoke up ready to relay their feelings about the asari.

"Enough, both of you. Not now. I need to report this to the Council. Dismissed. All of you."

Looking angry as hell, Williams stormed out, pushing past Garrus and glaring at him. He tried to stop her, to let her know that he agreed with her about T'soni. But she gave him a look that made him back off. Garrus waited until everybody left and tried to talk to Shepard.

"Garrus, really. Not now."

"Shepard, I..."

"I know what you are going to say. We'll discuss it later. I promise."

"Aye, Commander."

Garrus walked out and ran into Tali, standing there waiting. She was holding what looked like scrap metal.

"Tali, didn't see you there. What are doing? And what is that?"

"I was waiting for Shepard. I needed to talk to her about this. It's a piece of that machinery that was holding Liara. I think we could use it for something."

"That's great. Anything that can help us bring Saren down, I'm sure Shepard will be grateful. Have you talked to her about exploring the ship?"

"Not yet, that's also what I wanted to talk to her about."

Garrus smiled at Tali. He liked her. She was so innocent and almost childlike, but she was a badass when she wanted to be. He sympathized with the quarians. They were driven from their homeworld. Yes, by their own creations, but they didn't deserve that. Forced to live on the Flotilla, moving from system to system. Nowhere to call home. Then there was the treatment they got whenever they left the Flotilla. They were treated like they had the plague. It wasn't fair. They had to scavenge, had to find whatever they could to survive. The label of thieves wasn't fair either. Sure there were a few that stole their salvage, but that was by no means the majority. Most came by their wares legitimately.

"Well, hope your conversation goes better than mine just did. I was shut down. But no matter. I'm going to shower and get this grime off of me. Speak to you later, Tali."

"Bye Garrus, and thanks."

Freshly showered and feeling like himself again, Garrus stepped out of the lift and knew something was not right. Crewmen walking quickly in one direction away from the raised voices reverberating down the corridor. He ran towards the voices and found the source.

"Bullshit, Commander. This is not what I signed on for. I thought we were going after that piece of shit turian. Instead, I'm on some sort of fucking Noah's Ark with fucking turians and krogan. Then that little dirty scavenger joins up. And if that wasn't bad enough, you invite that whore on board. For fuck's sake, Shepard, what are you thinking?"

"Chief, calm down. Now, that's an order. This is my crew and I'll damned well have anybody I please on my ship. You got that, Williams?"

"Screw that, SIR. I'm sending a report to the Alliance. This isn't right, Shepard."

Williams stormed off, again pushing into Garrus.

"Fuck outta my way, turian."

Williams stormed down the corridor and out of sight. Garrus watched her disappear and turned to Shepard.

"What, Vakarian? You have something to say, as well?"

"No, no. It can wait." Garrus held up his arms in surrender. "I think I'll go see how Joker's doing. Come find me when you're not wearing a blue shield of kick ass."

Shepard looked at her arms and realized that she had been charging up her biotics. She quickly powered down and looked embarrassed.


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't know, Garrus. Liara seems okay to me." Joker replied as his fingers flew across the Normandy controls. "Plus, she's smoking hot."

Garrus scoffed. He had told his concerns to the pilot. It figured that Joker would be thinking with something other than his brain. Garrus was still concerned about T'soni being on the ship and having full access to their intel. He was worried that she was relaying information to her mother and to Saren.

"Besides, if I know one thing about my sister, it's that she's an excellent judge of character. She reads people better than anybody I've seen. I mean she picked me for her pilot, am I right?"

"Are you sure that was a good thing?" Garrus laughed.

"Of course, who wouldn't want this handsome piece of happiness flying their ship?" Joker grumped.

"Her only problem is not being able to pick the right guy. Be careful with that, Garrus."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh stop it, G. I know you got a thing for her. Hell, everybody does. She may be my sister, but I'm not blind. It pains me to say it, but my sister is a stone cold fox."

"Joker.."

"But she has intimacy issues. You think that fling with the meathead was because they were in love?"

"Jeff, please stop."

"No, it was because apparently the sex was good. How do I know? Thin walls, man. Thin walls."

"JOKER!"

"She's standing right behind me, isn't she?"

"Uhh huh."

"Fuck." Joker lowered his head. "Hey sis, how's it going?"

Shepard glared at Joker with daggers in her eyes. "Jeffrey Octavius Moreau! Just what in the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Sorry, Commander."

"J, we WILL talk later. Garrus, you got a minute?" She turned and walked down the corridor.

"Thanks a lot, PAL." Garrus shot at Joker and followed Shepard.

"You know, you should a bell on or something, unless you really are trying to kill me, COMMANDER."

"Dammit, Joker" Garrus thought. Shepard led him to her office and sat down. She unbuttoned her uniform away from her neck and sighed.

"Mmm. That's better. Now, you wanted to talk?"

He stared a moment at the newly exposed skin. This woman was driving him crazy, he thought.

"Hello? You in there?"

"Huh? Oh sorry, yes. It's about T'soni."

Shepard tensed. "What about her?"

"I don't trust her."

"Like Williams doesn't trust her?" she said angrily. "'Cuz I don't think I can take any more bigotry today, Vakarian."

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just that we don't know if she's actually on our side or not. This is her mother we're talking about."

Shepard rubbed between her eyes in frustration. "Dammit, Garrus, we talked about this. I believe that she's telling the truth. She has no idea what Benezia is doing."

"All due respect, Shepard. How can you know for sure? It doesn't pass the smell test. This whole thing stinks."

"Garrus, I know, okay. Drop this." She reached across the desk ad grabbed his hand. "Just trust me, please."

He looked at his hand in hers and his heart started racing. He was falling in love with this woman. And it scared him, scared him shitless. And thrilled him. Of course he would trust her, he would do anything for her. But he would not let her know how he felt, not yet anyway. He wasn't ready for that.

"I trust you, Shepard. I'll go along with this. But I'm still wary of her."

"That's good enough for now. Thank you, Garrus. This means a lot. We have to work together for this to happen."

"What about Williams?"

"Ugh, don't talk to me about that bitch. I want to rip her head off and dump the rest of her out the airlock" Shepard threw her head back and stared at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do with her. She's a good soldier and she can help us, but she needs to get over that crap she has with non-humans."

"Prejudice isn't something that can be cured overnight, Shepard. Hell, it probably can never be. Appeal to her soldier mentality, keep to the mission with her. I'll give her a wide berth and leave her alone. But Shepard, if she calls Tali a dirty scavenger again, I'll beat you to the airlock with her lifeless body. Just fair warning."

"Fair enough. You've grown quite protective of our little pilgrim, haven't you?"

"Not that she really needs protecting. She's tough. But she's seen more action than a girl her age needs to. She's innocent and naive, Shepard, thrust into a hard situation."

Shepard laughed. "Not that innocent and not that naïve, Garrus. You know that her father is on the Admiralty Board, right? She was sent on her pilgrimage to investigate rumors of geth activity beyond the Veil.

"I did not know that. Well, she's just full of surprises, isn't she?"

"She's not the only one. She tells me that you're the one that encouraged her to ask me about the ship and if she could study it."

"That I did. I saw her looking at the Mako and she was worried I was going to yell and turn her in for stealing. I told her to talk to you and get permission so the others wouldn't bother her."

"How did you know I wouldn't tell her to back off, or even throw her off my ship?"

"The way you gathered us all together. You don't seem to have the same prejudices as most humans I've met do. I knew you would let her do what she needed to best serve this ship."

Shepard looked at Garrus and smiled. They sat there like that for a while. The silence was deafening. Garrus was getting nervous and started fidgeting. He wanted to stay, but felt the urge to bolt the room. Shepard's smile got bigger. Was she teasing him on purpose? Or was she unaware of his discomfort. He was about to make a lame excuse to leave when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Shepard commanded.

Kaiden opened the door and walked in. "Hey Commander, I was wondering if...oh sorry, didn't know you were busy."

"Oh no, Lieutenant, I was just leaving." Garrus stood to leave and nodded towards Shepard. "Commander."

"Thanks Garrus. Be ready. We should arrive at Noveria within the next couple of hours."

"Sounds good. By the way, were kidding with Joker again, right?"

"Oh no. I'm gonna kill him good, this time. So, if you know a good pilot, give him a call."

"Ah, I see. I'll be sure to pass that along."

As Garrus walked out of the office, he saw the way Kaiden and Shepard looked at each other and saw mutual attraction between them.

"Crap." He suddenly hated Kaiden Alenko.

He went to the cargo bay to set his gear up. He was cleaning his sniper rifle when Tali came rushing in.

"Garrus, you were right. She gave me permission to study the ship and figure it out how it works. She didn't even hesitate. She even listened to my idea about the stasis field and incorporating it into the ship."

"Tali, that's great. I knew she would. So, have you learned much about the ship?"

She gave him a hug and jumped up and down. "Oh yes. Greg has been really nice and is showing me everything. This ship is fantastic. The most advanced ship in Citadel space. Thanks, Garrus. Thank you so much."

"Hey, they were your ideas. I just pushed you towards her office."

Tali stopped jumping and lowered her head. "No, thank you for treating me like a person and not some disease. We don't get a lot of that from non-quarians."

Garrus grabbed her arms and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. "Now, you listen to me. I treat you that way, because you ARE a person. You are not a disease and never will be. I don't want to hear that from you again, understand?"

"Chief Williams doesn't like me, does she? I heard what she called me."

"Don't worry about her. Those are her problems, not ours. Ignore that bosh t'et."

Tali giggled then turned serious. "Garrus, why were you in here alone and looking sad?"

He sighed and deflected the question. So, an admiral's daughter? Why the naïve little girl act?"

"Oh, Shepard told you? Well, um, you were the first one since I left the Flotilla to treat me like I was an actual person. And even there, I wasn't treated very well. My cousin, Kal, was very protective of me. You remind me of him, in a lot of ways. So, I just came to think of you as a big brother type, like him. So, I was hoping that's okay with you. This doesn't change anything, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. It doesn't change a thing. Tali, you're a big girl and you don't have to pretend with me. You've proven yourself already. You're good in a fight, you're probably the smartest person on this ship, and you're the one who found the evidence against Saren. You don't have anything else to prove to me. And not to Shepard either. She trusts you. If she didn't she wouldn't let you anywhere near Engineering."

Just then, the lift doors opened and Garrus frowned. T'soni walked out in armor with Shepard trailing behind. Oh no, Garrus thought, she's coming along to Noveria? He didn't like that. Bringing her to her mother is probably what they want. He shot Shepard a look that he hoped conveyed his thoughts.

"Garrus, Wrex. You'll be in the main party with me. Tali, you and Liara will be on Stand-By until we know where Benezia is hiding. Everybody gear up and be ready."

Okay, Garrus thought. If T'soni really is on our side, then bringing her to confront her mother is a good plan. He hoped to hell Shepard was right about this.


End file.
